The Bosun
The Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club has added an ambitious new event to the Australian east coast offshore program. Scheduled to start on October 2, the race is from Broken Bay (15nm North of Sydney), out into the Tasman Sea to Lord Howe Island, then around the nearby rock outcrop Ball’s Pyramid (above), and back to a finish in Broken Bay. The strait-line distance is 890 miles, more than 260 miles longer than the Sydney-Hobart Race.
(Those wishing to ascribe lewd anatomical connotations to the “balls” will be disappointed to learn that the volcanic sea stack was discovered in 1788 by Royal Navy Lieutenant Henry Lidgbird Ball, and named after him. It is the eroded plug of an extinct volcano thought to be at least six million years old.)
The traditional Gosford-Lord Howe Island race of around 420 miles was held from 1974 to 2011. It was then replaced by an annual cruise-in-company that remains popular. The Island is tropical and protected by a coral reef. There are only limited moorings for visiting yachts. No “stopover” is included in the Notice of Race.
The NoR confirms there are to be IRC and PHS divisions for fully-crewed and two-handed boats. But, unlike the Sydney-Hobart, the new event is also open to multihull entrants.
Seasoned offshore sailors who have raced and cruised to Lord Howe many times point to some issues the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club will need to consider.
The primary concerns are to do with safety. Neither the Island nor Ball’s Pyramid are marked with lights. They can be difficult to locate accurately at night in bad conditions. Adding to that danger are “The Admiralties”, a group of small rocky outcrops off the NE tip of the Island – also unmarked or lit.
As the fleet turns South toward Ball’s Pyramid there are further hazards just below the surface. A Royal Navy destroyer, HMS Nottingham, ran aground there in 2002 after a slight navigational error. More generally, the long track out into the Tasman Sea soon puts yachts beyond conventional helicopter rescue range. That factor, alone, deters many crews from making the crossing.
The RPAYC is promoting the event as “The Race of Heroes” and it will certainly be a test of endurance. There is a familiar assumption among the local offshore community that if you have a good trip ‘out’ to LHI, then you’re certain to get a hammering on the homeward passage (or vice versa).
So far, only one entry has been received. The club has indicated that if fewer than 15 yachts have entered by September 1 then the race might be postponed.
– The Bosun
